In person icon The Dynamics of Federal Regimes in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Dynamics are inherent to federal regimes. On the one hand, different aspects of federal regimes, such as the distribution of power between levels of government and horizontal coordination between lower levels, are continuously being re-shaped. Change can be caused by ideational factors such as new visions of the appropriate territorial structure, by partisan or territorial actors that are interested in altering the territorial allocation of power or by institutions, such as new rules established by a constitutional court. On the other hand, continuity is an equally important characteristic of federal regimes, which can be caused by institutional lock-in, by the crystallisation of ideas that serve to legitimize a territorial order, or by the dominance of powerful actors interested in the preservation of the status quo. During both episodes of change and continuity, however, outcomes are influenced by the rules and decisions established in previous moments, generating linkages between past and present. The panel seeks to link neo-institutional approaches that employ concepts such as critical junctures, path-dependence, and gradual institutional change to the study of change and continuity in regional or federal regimes. Comparing periods of change and continuity will reveal the mechanisms underlying the dynamics in federal regimes.

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